England and Wales Cricket Board face climbdown over Morgan Report and shake up of county game

The England and Wales Cricket Board is facing an embarrassing climbdown over
the Morgan Report following growing opposition to its recommendations for
the biggest shake-up of county cricket since the introduction of two
divisions 12 years ago.

Rejected: the ECB is likely to have to compromise to quell growing opposition to David Morgan's proposalsPhoto: PA

Opposition to the report, compiled by former International Cricket Council President David Morgan, has grown since it was published last month with the recommendation that the County Championship should be reduced to a 14 match competition the report’s most contentious proposal.

The Telegraph understands that the ECB’s own cricket committee has reaffirmed its support for the retention of a 16-match County Championship in which each county plays the other teams in the same division twice.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association and a majority of the 18 county coaches also favour the playing format that has been introduced for this season, and which was approved by the counties less than a year ago, ahead of those proposed in the Morgan Report.

The ECB expected the Morgan Report to be rubber-stamped at a meeting at Lord’s three weeks ago but have been surprised by the opposition that it has attracted, starting with county chairmen and chief executives who said they wanted to retain 40 overs one day cricket rather than switch to 50 overs as recommended by Morgan.

Having stated that the Morgan Report must be approved in full or not at all, the ECB board members appear to have backed themselves into a corner. Rejecting the report outright would mean public humiliation for Morgan, one of English cricket’s senior administrators, but the ECB is likely to have to compromise to quell growing opposition to his proposals.

“If the ECB tries to push through the Morgan Report in full they will have a massive problem because of the obvious opposition to it,” said one county chief executive.

“Common sense has to prevail and it will be a surprise if we don’t end up with a structure similar to this season.” Morgan claims to have spoken with more than 300 people before he compiled his report but the credibility of his research has been undermined by the revelation that only four of those he interviewed were county coaches.

It is also unclear how many of Morgan’s interviewees were current county players. Angus Porter, the chief executive of the PCA, has asked for more details but has yet to receive an answer.

But Somerset chairman Andy Nash has sympathy for the task Morgan faced in trying to produce a coherent structure that provides a satisfactory balance between cricketing and commercial needs.

“I liken it to a Rubik’s Cube. You are never going to be able to please everyone all the time. You have got to try to strike a reasonable balance,” Nash said.

“The ECB has to take a decision. As a county we need to take decisions on players’ contracts, some of which are three years long, and you cannot do that or plan capital expenditure on ground developments if the fixture list keeps changing.”